Fires Of Earth
by Zhelezo
Summary: The people of Mars have come to attack! They think we are weak! They think their ancient alien technology makes them invincible! But humans are a crafty race. Fifteen years to figure out a way to beat their technology was fifteen years too long.


Quick note to readers. So, I've been unsatisfied with my writing recently. Mostly Naruto stuff, but anything that catches my eye, I'll write. I started watching Aldnoah Zero yesterday, and loved it. Loved the soundtrack, loved the characters, loved the fights. But I had one little problem with it.

It felt like… Humanity has 15 years to prep, right? I mean, people are still just a war hungry as ever. And a bunch of guns in space pointed at us? No waaaaay we sit around and do nothing. So I'm not buying the whole… human mechs are all standard shit. No way. They'd have all sorts of developments and advancements. This is the story of the Human-Martian war. This is the Tale of the battle that will rock the cosmos, and show that supertechnology doesn't mean a goddamn thing if you're enemy is smarter than you.

Also, if anyone has ideas for enemy mechs, or allied technology, just let me know~

Pan-American Radio Station 15 "Guns to the Sky" 94.3 FM

 _"_ _ _Hello, friends and allies! Today is indeed another day, a very important one at that!__

 _ _The princess has decided to grace us with her presence, she set down in japan just a few hours ago.__

 _ _Let me tell ya somethin folks, the pair a balls on her! She's coming here to talk about peace. Peace this, peace that! And she's got FORTY weapon stations dangling over our head!__

 _ _Fifteen years and those Martians still treat us like prisoners! We sent them aid, supplies, all sorts of things coming out of OUR wallets. And why? Are we afraid they'll blow up our OTHER moon?!__

 _ _Now, I got friends in high places. Real high places. And they tell me it won't be much longer.__

 _ _People of earth. People of the America's, both of em. People of Europe. Let me tell you, friends and listeners, we will not sit around while these traitors lord over us!__

 _ _Let me tell you, this time around we sure as hell won't be surrendering!__

 _ _So get to the bunkers, if you aren't in one already. Grab your loved ones, and your radios. Cause I promise you, when little miss martian realizes we won't ally with people who constantly stand over us with superweapons, her pals are going to come down and wreck Earth.__

 _ _I know some of you are shaking your heads. Nah nah Jim, they won't attack us. We're all buddy buddy now. Have been for fifteen years.__

 _ _You said the same thing when they left Unified Earth.__

 _ _You said the same thing when they attacked the moon.__

 _ _And you'll say the same thing when they attack Earth. It's time to wake up. Wake up your friends and family, wake up your countrymen and your allies. It's time for the world to wake up, so we can stand together when these martians attack us again.__

 _ _Wait wait folks! We've got a special surprise! Something never before had on the show.__

 _ _Everyone listening in on your radios, lets hear a big thanks for Hiroyuki Ando, my favorite listener! Why are we thanking Ando? Because he just got us somethin real special! Tell em what ya did Ando!__

 _ _Uhm… w-well, hi Jim. Nice to be on the s-show.__

 _ _Now Ando, why don't you tell these folks who you are?__

 _ _S-sure! My name is A-ando Hiroyuki! I'm 5'7 and 128 pounds, my hobbies include swimming-__

 _ _Wow wow! Hold up a minute Ando, we appreciate the deets, but this is a talk show, not a meet and greet.__

 _ _S-sorry Jim. I'm just so excited! I've never been on radio before!__

 _ _Haha, we all know that feeling! But I imagine we don't have too much of our special guests time. What do you do for a living?__

 _ _I'm an event planner working for the UE headquarters in Japan!__

 _ _I bet thats a lot a fun. But we've been having a bit too much fun here, why don't you tell us about the special guest?__

 _ _Certainly Jim! Y-you see, as an event planner, I was preparing todays parade-__

 _ _The parade in honor of the princess's visit, correct?__

 _ _Y-yes! I was going over the final details with the princess, when I started talking to her. She was very kind, and when I mentioned your show, she wanted to talk on it!__

 _ _Weeeell that is just Darling, royalty that talks with commoners, huh princess?__

 _ _It's quite nice to meet you too, Jim! Ando told me all about your show…__

 _ _Aha, so I take it you disagree with what I say? And you still decided to come on, knowing I'm opposed to your views? Princess, I can't help but respect that. Most Earth politicians would never appear on a show with contrary views. I'll try to give you the benefit of the doubt.__

 _ _Thank you Jim, so… Why are you opposed to peace between Earth and Mars? An end to the violence and hatred can't be bad, right?__

 _ _An end to violence and hatred? Princess, it doesn't work that way. You folks attacked first. You stole the most powerful weaponry in the world, and turned it against the rest of humanity. You blow up the moon! And all so that your folks can sit around in castles and point guns at our heads?__

 _ _W-well there are problems between our worlds, but surely they can't last forever. Shouldn't pursuing peace be the goal of everyone, so that none of us have to live in fear?__

 _ _Except we're the only ones living in fear. Fear that a band of tyrants playing King Arthurs Round Table will one day do to Earth what they did to the moon. Tell me princess, why are your knights floating around Earth right this very moment?__

 _ _T-to keep the peace between us, o-of course. They'd n-never attack unless they were p-provoked. They're only there for peace!__

 _ _Princess… I like your ideals. Really I do.__

 _ _Asseylum Vers Allusia__

 _ _Gesundheit?__

 _ _No, it's my name… Asseylum.__

 _ _And a pretty one at that. But let me ask you something. If I were to take a gun to these peace talks of yours, and stick it at your head, how would your people react?__

 _ _W-What?! Why would you do that?!__

 _ _How would they react Asseylum.__

 _ _Well t-they'd rush to p-protect me…__

 _ _Probably kill me too?__

 _ _Y-yes…__

 _ _But why? I didn't fire the gun. It's just there to… keep the peace. I'd never fire unless I was provoked.__

 _ _B-but… T-then… the peace talks are our only way of mending the gap between our worlds!__

 _ _And can you really expect people to pursue peace when you're holding guns to their heads?__

 _ _W-well… T-they might…__

 _ _But isn't it more likely that they'll nod their heads all pretty like, and pretend to agree with every word the PRINCESS says. Because your friends and family are holding weapons to not only their heads, but the head of every human on the planet. The families of those men are in danger. They'll say anything to placate you. And nothing will change.__

 _ _B-b-b-b-b…__

 _ _Asseylum… I really do admire you. If you had been around all those years ago… Maybe things would be different. I wish they were. I wish we could go to mars. I wish the moon was still there. I wish I didn't have a giant gun floating over me. We all wish for things. But wishing don't make them true. No matter how hard you try. What do you wish for, Asseylum? To all the viewers out there who are touched by your youthful desire for peace between our worlds. What does the princess of mars wish for?__

 _ _I-I-I… I just wanted to see Earth! To f-f-fix the problems! So the people of M-m-m-mars can see how beautiful t-t-this place Iiiiisss…__

 _ _Awww… Don't cry sweetie… It'll happen someday. But for the moment we're out of time.__

 _ _There you heard it folks. First words from the princess of Mars, just a normal little girl, trying desperately to fix our worlds when nobody else from her side even wants to try.__

 _ _Let me tell you all something, that brave little girl surprised me. I thought she'd be arrogant. Prideful. A pain in the ass like the rest of Mars. But after talking to her, I'm certain that if Earth and Mars can unify again, it'll be because of her.__

 _ _I just hope that when her folks attack us, that poor little thing isn't caught in the crossfire…__

 _ _Aaaaand moving on to todays topic! Callers, what is your plan to survive a martian invasion?"__

Two hours later the news came in. That sweet little girl was dead. Killed by a terrorist. The lines flooded with astonished callers, mourning the heartbreaking child who just wanted peace, stolen away before she could even speak. The station had a moment of mourning, just for her and her ideals. Then the jamming started, and the great Kataphracts of the Martian warmachine began crashing down to Earth.

Around the world, governments waited with baited breath. News of the Princess's death had reached every major government official within __seconds__. Now the most powerful people in the world were waiting for the Martians response.

The Two sat in stunned silence. They were Americans, two men wearing normal Army fatigues without any rank tags. Hawthorne and Golden written over their shirt pockets in simple lettering. Both names were fake of course. Their uniforms were fake. The neck tattoo on "Hawthorne" was as fake as the burn scars running down "Golden's" left leg. Eye colors were fake. Hair color too. The only real thing on these two? The near identical (But not quite) binary code carved into their fingerprints on such a miniscule scale that you'd never notice it, even with close scrutiny and a magnifying glass. The fingerprints themselves were also fake, of course. The Two shared a single glance, before heading rapidly to their station. Fingers pressed against unassuming panels on the machine, both in different places, both made to look like nothing abnormal.

Six floors down, in a room that even the president would never be able to access, sat a small team of five people. Their name tags, like everything else about them, was fake. These three men and two women were here because they ran the big gun. America's baby. The absolutely massive defensive system/construction project, started all those years ago to protect America from anything Mars could throw at her.

A woman, who's name of the day was Heather, spoke to her on-again off-again lover, who's name of the day was Charles, "At least we finally found a use for all that waste?" The room shared a chuckle, and as the massive battlestation in the sky began to enter the atmosphere, all five of them flipped their switches and FIRED.

Just for the record, Martians were NOT being given the benefit of the doubt. Not one goddamn shred.

Humanity was always good at rising to challenges. So Martians with immense technological superiority definitely a tough challenge to rise too. Sometimes the challenge seemed too high for humans to ever reach. If there was one thing humans had learned about the Martians, it was their complete unpredictability in everything. But even the weakest Martian warmachine still had impressive armor on it. Add in all the weird additions, and humans had to be ready for literally anything.

So of course, the first step was to combine EVERYTHING. Which brings us back to "Heather's" joke. Well for the past 15 years, America had gathered all the material they could find to make three very unique bullets. Each bullet was larger than a tank, and significantly heavier. Each was different, made of different materials on the off chance the Martians were immune to one, or even two of them.

But each of the bullets had one core, basic resource inside of them. 15+ years of All American Nuclear waste. Liquid death, concentrated down and down and down and then stuffed inside a bullet. Who knew what that could do to the environment. Let alone the region it settled in. But short term goals beat long term, especially when the Martians wanted to subjugate or kill all of humanity. It was a nuke with more nuke, and less unnecessary explosion. And thats not even mentioning all the little tricks that some scientist decided to throw in for the hell of it, just to add that slim +1% to lethality.

So when this gun fired, you could damn well bet it would kill. The first bullet left it's house sized barrel at a shade over 20,000 Kilometers per hour. Which is just stupidly fast. Ten times the speed of a bullet. Twenty times the speed of sound.

It was a stupidly fast bullet, with a stupidly deadly payload, and stupidly dangerous design. It was built to not only go through Kataphracts like they were paper -It was tested against real Kataphract armor, bits of which were still being plucked out of moon scrap.

And as the Castle in the sky rapidly neared the ground, all of Earth geared up for one hell of a fight.

Kratofeln was a Noble leader of his clan. He toyed absentmindedly at a stubborn lock of his pale blond hair, watching the great expanse of greenery beneath him steadily grow. He considered himself a lucky man, one of the first to launch his Castle towards the Earth after the Oh-so tragic death of the princess he soooo adored.

He wondered, that he might seem a tad overeager? Attacking Earth out of the blue, without a higher up okaying it. The first one to do so, he might add.

This was a worry he shrugged off. The tragic death of the princess had left him emotionally unbalanced, that was all.

What was tragic, though, would be the battle. The Terrans were numerous, but disturbingly inferior. After his great Castle landed, there would be little left to do but toy with survivors. No honor, no glory. Just a day of boredom.

Except for the tragic loss of the princess, of course. Her and her silly ideals. So tragic.

He wasn't anywhere near the private bay where Anceliir sat, the prized mech of Kratofeln outfitted with the most devastating tools in all the galaxy. Or so he bragged anyways. The steely grey Kataphract, with its exotic armor stippling, always drew gasps when its special abilities came out to play.

As he leisurely journeyed towards the dock, he was unaware of the mass speeding towards his ship.

Unaware, that is, until it hit. The downward momentum of the falling Castle actually STOPPEd for a split second, as the high density, high velocity impact threw it UP into the air.

Kratofeln blinked the blood from his eyes, struggling to stand as his vision swam. His gut felt heavy, then disturbingly light as he tasted his breakfast. Sick splattered the floor, ruining his fancy nobleman garb. His hand was bent at an odd angle, and refused to move as he wanted it to.

Around the ship, his crew were collapsed in similar states. It was to be expected. High Radiation nuclear waste was nasty stuff. A few seconds next to it and you would die in days. This though… this was the pet project of a Terran scientist fighting to protect his home. He compressed the nuclear stuff so tightly, that it became a superheated solid, just like the Iron core of the planet. When the bullet tore through the ships hull, it cracked like an egg, and the superheated radioactive material became so much dust. Dust that filled the air circulation systems. Dust that was now inside those Noble lungs.

Kratofeln felt one distinct regret. With two deaths racing to see which could kill him first, he was really starting to regret attacking Earth. It might just have been the residual radiation burning through his neurons though. That usually made your thoughts a bit cloudly. Or it was the radioactive heat, now scarring his lungs until every breath crackled. That kind of pain could make you regret a lot of things.

Around the world, a lot of Clan leaders were thinking similar thoughts.

"Damage report?"

"A lot of our communications were cut, several cities are gone, and the Kataphracts are destroying standard military defenses."

"As we thought?"

"As we thought. With a pleasant surprise here and there. Two Clans were taken out. Americans and Russians , who'd have thought?"

"I would. And did. In fact, you owe me money."

"Yes sir…"

"Anything else?"

"Er… the Germans sir."

"What about the Germans?"

"Well… Did you ever hear the story of Jack and the Beanstalk?"

"No. Enlighten me."

"Well you see-"

On the German Front, near what was once Berlin.

The Germans had a lot to be ashamed for.

"ubermensch, ubermensch, ubermensch"

A lot to be ashamed for. The whole Nazi thing was a pretty serious blight on their record. Human experimentation, sadistic practices, all kinds of nasty shit.

"Ubermensch, Ubermensch, Ubermensch"

But from that shame, they grew. Going above and beyond to prove that they weren't the monsters everyone saw them as. They took their greatest failure, and used it to leapfrog their successes. As any great nation must.

"UBERMENSCH, UBERMENSCH, UBERMENSCH"

Most people had never heard the phrase which now echoed through the destroyed streets of Berlin. Most of the people who had, only know it as one of the guiding principles of the Nazi party. But now they were hearing it again, those frightened, huddled masses who hid from the Machines now destroying them. Chanted from a thousand voices. A million voices, all across Germany.

Project Ubermensch. Activated 15 years ago, when soldiers that could fight a versatile army of Machine warriors became necessary to Germany's survival. To the worlds survival. The Machine strength came from the unknown. Without knowledge, it couldn't be defeated. But with Knowledge, the things were little better than normal human warriors.

Like the one now rampaging across Berlin, firing scraps of reflected laser light from its hands in a barrage of light that vaporized everything in its path. A lone human Machine stood in it's path, wielding a slab of concrete as a shield, clutching a broken slab of rebar as It's sword.

An ubermensch was piloting this one, silent as it rushed the enemy with no regard for safety. It thrust with the rebar, the metal sliding through an empty illusion. A scattering of light beams shredded the mech, and a dozen miles away Major Traugott raised a glass in cheer.

He knew the truth now. The Machine. Kataphracts as the Japanese called them. They were little more than a lightshow. One trick ponies unaware of their faillings. One might easily defeat a dozen human mechs through their shifty tricks. But if you knew the danger beforehand…

He closed his eyes, stepping into a second Ubermensch. Chanting loudly, the metallic human charged in the direction of the Light Machine, sliding a sack of high explosives out of it's chest plate.

Around Germany, the same was happening. Dozens of high ranking military officers would control the Ubermensch, using a decoy to learn of the enemy fallacies, before striking hard. They would rip and rend with fingers of ultra dense alloys, plucking the cowardly humans from their mounted machines, before dragging them off for a truly German torture session. They had three confirmed POW's already. And should War ever truly be declared, they would begin treating the prisoners as such. But for the moment… they had much German blood to atone for.

"Clever, is it not?"

"Ingenious. Any others?"

"Yes, quite a few. None have fared better than the Chinese though."

"Oh? What did they have?"

"I'm not sure if you'll believe me…"

Xiawei Lang was a simple soldier, with simple dreams. Just enough medals to meet a girl above his station. Early retirement, long days of literature, culture, and fun. Wasn't that enough for everyone?

Enough money to buy the things he couldn't as a child. Never have to worry about food or shelter. Simple pleasures for a simple man.

He didn't hate the Martians, not more than he hated anyone else he didn't personally know. They were people, just like him. Who just happened to live elsewhere. Was that so wrong?

Alright, so they scrapped the moon. It was… very very bad. But he didn't hate all of them for that. Attacking his homeland however, that was a different matter entirely.

And there was just something about the gun that felt sooooo satisfying.

He and his squad had already beaten two of the Metal Dragons.

Each of the ten squad members carried an odd boxlike gun. It was cumbersome, heavy, and the pack on their back could violently explode if shot.

But it was satisfying.

Another Metal Dragon dropped down in from of them, this one with some kind of energy whip. The metal links carried rushing electricity, and the enemy cracked it against a building in a vain attempt to be threatening.

The squad just lifted their guns as the enemy rushed them, brandishing its whip. The weapons switched on with a cliiiick-hmmmmmmmmm. They aimed it at the enemy for two, maybe three seconds.

Then the poor bastard hit the ground screaming. The whip was forgotten, abandoned as the mech writhed on the floor.

The shaking stopped when the screaming stopped. Finally, the squad looked around, searching for another enemy. As they walked off, ignoring the downed mech, Xiawei chuckled, "I love microwave guns."

"Wow. Just wow. Brutal as they deserve, but…"

"Yeah. Unpleasant. And before you ask. Yes, there is one more pleasant surprise."

"Where?"

"Africa actually."

"No shit, really?"

"Yes sir, let me tell you about it."


End file.
